There are so many Red-Winged Blackbirds
eating the milo-corn-wheat-sunflower-seed-mix
from the birdfeeders
that I fear the smaller birds
will have to go
elsewhere.
I try to put the seed out—
filling the feeders,
scattering some on the ground—
before
and after
the big birds normally feast,
but the last couple of days,
they have come early, stayed late
and wiped out the food.
Today
they even managed to stand on
the little ledges and contort themselves
to pick thin, black thistle seeds
from the tiny holes in that feeder,
made especially for little birds.

I’ve been keeping an eye
on Squirrel, who helps herself/himself
to the seeds on the ground
and drinks from the water bowl
that St. Francis holds,
but can’t seem to figure out
how to reach the seeds in the feeders.

I was thrilled to see
Roadrunner right up at the house today.
He/she showed up in the afternoon
and hung out in the yard
below the feeders, back and forth,
off and on,
until all the birds
left for the evening. When it was present,
the black birds flew away. All the birds
flew away—which is smart of them
because, as I learned today,
Roadrunners eat small birds.
It ignored Squirrel
and really seemed to ignore the birds,
though I saw it hunch down close in the grass
once,
like a cat
waiting to pounce.
Evidently Roadrunner likes mice
too, which might be the reason
it’s here. Birds feed here
every winter,
but this is the first I’ve seen
Roadrunner
here too. Maybe it’s the mouse plenty
that’s attracted it. I’m trying
to simply observe
and not get further enmeshed
in who should eat
how much,
what,
who.